THE PRESIDENT: Thank you
all. (Applause.) Thank you all very much. So,
Laura and I were heading down to Mexico, and we decided to stop to see
a lot of our friends. (Applause.) And there's no
better place to see a lot of our friends than El Paso,
Texas. (Applause.)

I want to thank you all for coming out. I want to thank
you for being here. As you know, I had a change of address,
but my home is still Texas. (Applause.) I love to be with
my fellow Texans. (Applause.) And I'm really
happy that Laura came with me
today. (Applause.) As you know, she's doing a
great job as First Lady. (Applause.)

I'm a lucky man to have Laura as a wife. Some people are
wondering how lucky she is to have me as a
husband. (Laughter.) But I attribute the fact
that she has done such a fabulous job to this: Every summer,
when she was a kid she came to El Paso, Texas. (Applause.)

I'm also honored to be traveling today with a fantastic Secretary
of State, Colin Powell. (Applause.) Colin Powell
has cobbled together one of the great coalitions ever; a coalition
determined to fight terror wherever we find it. Mr.
Secretary, thank you for your love for America, thank you for your love
for freedom, and thank you for your service to this country.
(Applause.)

You know, when the enemy hit us, I knew we needed a strategy to
protect our homeland. We needed a strategy to -- something
to put in place to do the very best we can to protect our
citizens. And I turned to a friend of mine to lead the
strategy -- the former governor of the state of Pennsylvania, a strong
leader, a capable man, a Vietnam vet -- Tom Ridge. (Applause.)

I'm proud to be on the stage with a man who's doing a fabulous job
for the people of Texas, the Governor of the state of Texas, Rick
Perry. (Applause.) And I was proud to travel from
Washington, D.C., back to his home territory with a fine Congressman, a
man who understands the border, a man who loves Texas -- Henry
Bonilla. (Applause.)

We've really come for more than just to see our
friends. We've come down to highlight the importance of our
border and the importance of our relationship and friendship with
Mexico. First, I want to make this clear -- somebody asked
me the other day -- they asked this question, they said, because of the
war on terror, have you -- is your interest in Mexico
diminished? I said, not at all. A strong and
prosperous Mexico is good for
America. (Applause.) And the best foreign policy
is a foreign policy that insists that our own neighborhood be
prosperous and peaceful and democratic.

Mexico is an incredibly important part of the futuro de los Estados
Unidos. (Applause.) And the border, la frontera,
is a very important part of our relationship. It is
essential that Americans understand the nature of this
border. And that's why I'm going to be going to a border
crossing point to make this point: On the one hand, we want
the legal commerce, the people who travel back and forth on a daily
basis, the brothers and sisters on both sides of the border, the
relatives that have been coming back and forth for years, to be able to
do so in an efficient and easy way. We want that kind of
traffic, that kind of border crossing to be done in an expeditious
way. It's good for Juarez and it's good for El Paso, Texas.
(Applause.)

Rick mentioned the amount of commerce that takes place -- the
commerce that takes place between Mexico and Texas and the United
States is good for both countries. It's good for the United
States. It's good for Mexico. And, therefore, we must work
to make sure our border is modernized so that the commerce that takes
place can move more freely, can be expedited so as it makes it easier
for people to have jobs and find work.

On the other hand, we want to use our technology to make sure that
we weed out those who we don't want in our country -- the terrorists,
the coyotes, the smugglers, those who prey on innocent
life. (Applause.)

And so we're making good progress in the modernization of our
border. And that's what I'm going to go talk about today, and that's
what I'm going to highlight. I want this border to be
modern; I want it to have the very best technology. I don't
want it to be a neglected part of our country. I want it to
be a place where we spend a lot of time and focus on it, so that it
works the best it can possibly work.

It also is important for our country to understand how I feel about
our neighbor to the south. First of all, I approach Mexico
with the spirit of friendship and the spirit of mutual respect and the
spirit of resolve. I want to thank the Mexican leaders -- and will do
so in person tonight -- for their steady and strong resolve in their
efforts to join us in our fight against terror, in our efforts to join
us in the fight against drug cartels, in our efforts to make sure our
relationship is as hopeful and as together as
possible. (Applause.)

And so, today, I've sent up an emergency request to the United
States Congress of $27 billion, $5 billion of which will be spent on
our airports and on our borders, to make sure Americans are more secure
and more safe than ever before. (Applause.)

My most important job as your President is to protect Americans
from any attack. I think about this all the
time. I walk into the Oval Office every morning, and I sit
at this fantastic desk that Teddy Roosevelt sat at, that Franklin
Roosevelt sat at, John Kennedy sat at, Ronald Reagan sat
at. These are -- (applause) -- imagine what it feels like
for a fellow from Midland, Texas. It's an
honor. But every morning I read about potential threats to
America. And I take them seriously, and so should we
all. And that's why we're working hard to make the border
work better. That's why we're working hard to beef up our Coast Guard,
so that our ports are more secure. That's why we take every
single threat seriously.

If we get any kind of hint, any kind of nudge that the evil ones
may be coming after us, I can assure you we're
reacting. We're sharing information the likes of which we've
never shared before. Our country's on alert, and our
governments -- the federal, the state, and the local governments -- are
doing everything we can -- I mean everything we can -- to protect the
homeland.

But I also want you to know -- (applause) -- but I want you to know
how I feel. The best way to protect the homeland, the best
way to make sure Americans can grow up in a peaceful country, is to
find terrorists wherever they hide and bring them to
justice. And that's what we're going to
do. (Applause.)

We're in for a long struggle, and I think Texans understand
that. And so do Americans. We're a united
people. We're a resolved people, because we understand that
we fight for something we hold dear, and that is our
freedoms. (Applause.)

Sometimes it seems like the terror threat may be going
away. But all you've got to do is look on your TV today, be
reminded about how evil these murderers are. Today we had a
terrible suicide bombing in Israel, and innocent lives were
lost. And there was one in Peru yesterday, where people lost
their life. And this morning, Laura and I met Milton Green
and his son, who lost a wife and a mother when they were going to
church, when they were praying to the Almighty God, and a suicide
killer came in in Pakistan and took their lives.

This is a dangerous world. Too many people are losing
their lives to murderers. History has called us into
action. We cannot let the terrorists take over
freedom-loving societies, and we will not. (Applause.)

America will fight terror wherever we find it, and as well, we will
call upon leaders around the world to do so, as well. Mr.
Arafat must do more to stop violence in the Middle
East. (Applause.) And I want to assure you all
the Secretary of State and I will remind leaders of their obligation to
defend innocent people; of their obligation to stamp out terrorists
wherever they light; of their obligation to make sure they uphold this
doctrine: If you harbor a terrorist, if you hide a
terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the
terrorists themselves. (Applause.)

And if you're interested in knowing what that means, just ask the
Taliban. (Applause.) Thanks to our mighty United
States military -- (applause) -- and thanks to our vast coalition, we
upheld that doctrine.

But I'm proud of this. Our country and our friends do
not seek revenge; we seek
justice. (Applause.) And we sent brave, brave
U.S. soldiers into Afghanistan not as conquerors, but as liberators.
(Applause.) It may be hard for some of the youngsters here
to believe, but the government that we just routed in Afghanistan would
not let young girls go to school. That
changed. This week, young girls will be going to school for
the first time, because we got that barbaric regime out of
power. (Applause.)

And we're not stopping. And we're not
stopping. And that's why I submitted the largest increase in
defense spending in two generations to the United States
Congress. (Applause.) We can't afford to stop,
for the sake of our children and our grandchildren. And I
expect the United States Congress to honor my request for this
important reason -- any time we put a U.S. soldier into harm's way, we
expect that soldier to have the best equipment, the best training, an
additional pay raise. (Applause.)

I know it's a lot of money -- I know it's a lot of money, my
request. But let me just tell you this -- I want to remind you all, we
fight for freedom. This country stands strong for
freedom. And we will not relent to any terrorist who think
they can take our freedom or the freedom from anybody else in the world
away from us. (Applause.) And, therefore, the
budget I submitted to Congress, while it may be high, the price of
freedom is never too high, as far as I'm
concerned. (Applause.)

I ask for your patience and unity because I understand the nature
of the enemy we fight. They've got these leaders over there
that are willing to send youngsters to their suicidal death, and they
try to find a cave they can hide in. There's no cave deep
enough for American justice. (Applause.)

It doesn't matter for me how long it takes. It doesn't
matter how long it takes. We're going to hunt them down one
by one and bring them to justice. (Applause.) If
they bunch up again in Afghanistan like they did in the Shahikot
mountain range, we'll send our soldiers in there.
(Applause.) The last time they bunched up, they didn't like
the results. No matter where they light, we're going to get
'em. We're going to treat them for what they are --
international terrorists. And we're going to keep them on
the run.

It is in the interests not only of our country, but the interest of
the world, that our nation be steady and strong and
determined. And you can bet, so long as I am your President,
we will be determined and steady and strong, and defend our freedom
with all our might. (Applause.)

I believe this: I believe as a result of our being
strong, and steady, and determined, the world will be more peaceful
after we rout out these terrorist killers. I believe we have
a chance to solve some problems around the world that some people had
given up hope on. I believe that the United States, by
leading our coalition, can lead the world to a more peaceful tomorrow.

And that's my goal. And that's my dream. Out
of our strength, and out of our resolve, will come a peaceful tomorrow
for children who not only live in America, but children who live all
across the world.

And I want to tell you one other thing I believe about America, is
out of this evil will come some incredible good. I believe
-- (applause) -- I believe strongly that the evil ones didn't know who
they were attacking. They thought we would -- they thought we would
roll over. They thought we were so materialistic and
self-absorbed that we wouldn't respond. They probably
thought we were going to sue
them. (Laughter.) Not only did they not
understand our resolve, but they didn't understand that this nation is
not going to let evil prevail.

They understand -- I get asked all the time -- I want you to hear
me on this -- I get asked all the time by people around America, what
can I do to help in the war on terror. I'll tell you what
you can do. In order to stand squarely in the face of evil,
do some good. Love a neighbor just like you'd like to be
loved yourself. Reach out to somebody in
need. Make sure somebody who's hungry has food; somebody who
needs love has love; somebody who needs to be taught how to read is
taught to read. You see, it's the gathering momentum of
millions of acts of kindness that will define this nation and allow us
to stand squarely in the face of evil. (Applause.)

And there's no doubt in my mind -- and there's no doubt in my mind
that the good people of El Paso, Texas, and those who live at Fort
Bliss -- (applause) -- are going to do exactly that. I know
El Paso. I know the hearts and souls of the citizens who
live here. I know full well the love and compassion that
exists throughout the neighborhoods in this great city in this part of
the state.

Today, I had the honor of meeting Rosario
Piedra. (Applause.) She brought her whole
family. (Laughter.) She came out to see this
magnificent Air Force One. She was there because Rosario is
the kind of person I'm talking about. She takes her
obligation as a U.S. citizen very seriously. She knows
there's something more to life than just serving
yourself. She's in charge of Girl Scout troops -- (applause)
-- teaching young girls values that will stay with them for the rest of
their life. She works after-school programs to help children that need
a little extra help. It is this kind of citizen that makes
our country unique and different.

I want to share with you this thought, that the most meaningful
event of September the 11th in many ways was Flight 93. I
want you all to remember what took place. On that flight
were people who had been told on their telephones that Washington and
New York was under attack. They knew their plane had been
highjacked. They got on the plane and they told their loved
ones they loved them. They said a prayer. They
said, "Let's roll." And they served something greater than
themselves. They served humanity. It is that spirit of
sacrifice -- it is that spirit of serving something greater than
yourself that is alive and well and strong in our great land.

And as you love a neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself,
remember that you represent that spirit; you represent the best of our
country; and you join us all in standing squarely in the face of
evildoers. This great country is the finest country on the face of the
Earth. And we're going to show the world exactly
that. (Applause.)

And so I want to thank you
all. (Applause.) Laura and I love El
Paso. We love our friends. May God bless you
all. (Applause.)